Lowell pub owner is arraigned on assault charges

LOWELL -- The owner of Finn's Pub on Merrimack Street has been charged with punching and kicking a UMass Lowell hockey player outside his establishment during a pub crawl last month.

Kevin Hayhurst, 35, of 127 Loon Hill Road, Dracut, was arraigned Wednesday in Lowell District on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery.

He pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an incident on May 4.

Lowell police have filed three allegations of misconduct against Finn's Pub with the License Commission related to the incident. The panel was scheduled to receive a communication about the allegations at its meeting Thursday night.

Joshua Holmstrom, a Colorado native who recently completed his junior year at UMass Lowell and was a forward on the River Hawks hockey team that advanced to the Frozen Four, was the alleged victim.

Holmstrom told police on the night of the incident, he saw some of his friends in a verbal and physical altercation with people he did not know inside Finn's Pub. He then tried to separate the combatants and started escorting some of them outside, Holmstrom told police.

Holmstrom said once he was outside he was punched in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Two witnesses, one who was part of the pub crawl and one who was not, told police they saw a man later identified as Hayhurst kick Holmstrom in the face while he was on the ground.

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Witnesses also identified a man with a physical description matching Hayhurst as the man who punched Holmstrom.

Holmstrom had abrasions over his right eye, his lower lip and his chin from the incident, but refused medical treatment or transport to the hospital.

Hayhurst, who also owns Brian's Ivy Hall and is being represented by Attorney Raymond Weicker, told The Sun he denies all the allegations against him.

He said a dozen or so students who were part of the pub crawl became "beyond unruly" inside his bar because they had been to some other bars first, and they tried to rip the establishment's jukebox out of the wall.

A co-owner of Brian's Ivy Hall then tried to stop the students from doing so and they attacked him, said Hayhurst. The students were then told to go outside.

"There was an altercation outside and I had nothing to do with it," Hayhurst said Thursday. "They probably pointed to me because I'm 350 pounds, tower over everyone and was wearing a green shirt, while the students were all wearing one of the pub-crawl shirts."

If convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, Hayhurst could face up to 10 years in state prison, up to two-and-a-half years in a House of Correction, up to a $5,000 fine, or both imprisonment and a fine.

The other assault-and-battery charge carries penalties of up to two-and-a-half years in a House of Correction or up to a $1,000 fine.

A pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 15.

Lowell Deputy Police Superintendent William Taylor said no one other than Hayhurst is charged in the incident.

In the communication that interim Police Superintendent Deborah Friedl provided to the License Commission, Friedl alleges that Finn's Pub failed to immediately notify police of the incident and failed to file a written report with police within 48 hours.

Hayhurst called police 43 minutes after the incident was reported by a Fire Department employee, according to police.

Friedl also said the establishment violated the section of the commission's rules and regulations requiring order and decorum to be maintained in licensed establishments.

Hayhurst has been in the spotlight before.

A Dec. 21 incident at Brian's Ivy Hall in which police allege fights broke out inside the club and crowd-control problems continued outside prompted a renewed call for the License Commission to adopt more stringent rules and regulations, which it did earlier this year.

The incident also led to the commission voting in February to suspend the liquor license of Brian Ivy's Hall for four days.

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